The disparate factions of the Syrian opposition all gathered at a luxury hotel in Doha this weekend and on Sunday night signed an agreement that unites nearly all of the rebel groups for the first time. The new group is known as National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and is set up to function like a government in exile, leaders said. They even elected a president, Mouaz al-Khatib, a cleric from Damascus. "Today in Doha is the first time the different factions of the Syrian opposition are united in one body," said Riyad Farid Hijab, a former prime minister of Syria. "So we ask the international community to recognize the Syrian opposition as the representative of the Syrians."

The big question, obviously, is whether or not the international community will respond. The United States and most European countries have been conspicuously hands off in terms of their support for the Syrian rebels. More specifically, nobody seems to want to send weapons to the opposition troops, perhaps in part because the rebel leadership seemed shaky.

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